Transplant recipients, living donors and donor family members from across the country will be gathering in Ottawa at the beginning of August for the biennial
Canadian Transplant Games. The Games are the premiere athletic celebration of sport for transplant recipients in a venue of national competition. But every athlete and skill level is welcome because just crossing the finish line is already a victory.
Team B.C. will have 14 athletes competing at the Games, including recipients and living donors. One of them is Brenda Brown, a kidney recipient from Abbotsford and president of the Canadian Transplant Association, organizer of the Games, and a
World Transplant Games Federation board trustee. The 56-year-old is a senior project manager at IBM and has previously participated in two Canadian Transplant Games and two World Transplant Games.
I was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy in my late 30s after having many kidney issues with my pregnancies. I was advised that if I followed a good diet and exercise my kidneys should remain healthy until later in life. But I think stress — divorce, work, kids, life — triggered the auto-immune disease and my kidneys declined very quickly. I ended up on hemodialysis and was listed for a kidney transplant.
Brenda with her daughter, son and grandchild on Green Shirt Day.
Several family members got tested to see if they could donate their kidney to me, including my daughter. None of them were a match. But we were told about the Kidney Paired Donation program. My daughter, who was 22 years old at the time, was young, healthy and a good donor candidate so we entered the program. In July 2013 at St. Paul’s Hospital, I received my transplant from a donor who was a match to me while my daughter flew to Calgary to donate her kidney to a recipient who was a match to her.
After the transplant, I had a terrible infection that required IV antibiotics for six months, but I still felt like I was walking on clouds. My daughter took about 10 weeks to fully recover and is thriving now. She has since gotten married and has two children and two stepchildren.
I wasn't extremely active pre-transplant. I tried to walk, played some ball and a bit of tennis, but I'd never say I was athletic. As my kids grew, it became more about their sports and activities. Initially after my transplant, I didn't do a lot, walking, mostly. But then I found yoga and it became a beacon of inspiration of light and movement.
Brenda participating in the winter Games earlier this year.
My uncle, who received a double lung transplant five months before I received my kidney transplant, found out about the Games and thought it would be cool if we participated together. I thought it would be a fantastic thing to celebrate our similar but different journeys together.
I love the opening ceremonies with the athletes’ parade and the teams carrying their flags, and, of course, watching the transplant kids compete. I am in such awe of the joy, strength and determination of all the athletes and families who participate, and it gives me the energy to continue doing what we do.
I have made so many connections with the transplant community from around the world, including most of the friends I have now! We all relate with our similar stories and experiences.
This year I am competing in race walk (3km), pickleball and petanque. I try to do something new at each Games (pickleball), something fun and social (petanque) and something that challenges me (race walk).
I don’t have any competition goals, except to try and beat my previous times and have fun, and try not to embarrass myself, if I can. I'm here to support the community and demonstrate that living our best lives is the best way to promote the goal of “one transplant for life.”
The idea of “one transplant for life” is to keep the first transplant as healthy as we can for as long as we can. A small part of me fears rejection and having to return to dialysis again, and I’m sure many other recipients also think about this. The best way to avoid that is doing everything I can to stay healthy and keep my gifted kidney healthy — eat well, drink lots of water and exercise.
I feel it's my responsibility to give back for this life-saving opportunity with my gifted kidney and I'm honoured to do so. As well, my family has benefitted from transplant four times for four different reasons, and we also have two living donors. It's near and dear to my heart and it is with so much gratitude that I serve our community to the best of my ability.
